ARC Analysis* of Artificial Trees

* 'ARC Analysis' involves a comparison of the world's human and economic resources spent on the military and armaments with that spent on providing true Human Security. www.arcwebsite.org

The Artificial tress option should be pursued vigorously and urgently, to determine if it is technically viable. Given the key facts of the report "geo-engineering giving us the time to act?" by The Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

"Key Facts

* Artificial trees would be several thousand times more effective at removing CO2 compared with natural trees

* Five to ten million trees could remove the current global annual non-energy production CO2 emissions

* Leveraging emerging CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) infrastructure will lead to economies of scale.

* Each tree would cost about $20,000."

 

Total cost of the trees required to remove the current global annual non-energy production CO2 emissions is estimated at between US$100 billion and US$200 billion. This compares with:

* Global Military expenditure in 2008 that is estimated to have totalled US$1.464 billion (https://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2009/05).

* During the last quarter of 2008, central banks purchased US$2,000 billion of government debt and troubled private assets from banks (Wikipedia)

* The global currency market was US$3,200 billion a day in 2007, or US$800,000 billion per annum. A Tobin Tax of .1% would yield US£800 billion per year. (Wikipedia)

* About US$20bn per year (US$200bn over 10 years) is paid in bonuses to 'bankers' in the Financial Sector.

The Artificial trees option is certainly financially viable

Expenditure Comparisons	Code	US$ billion
Global Military expenditure in 2008	Military Exp	1,464
Cost to bail out banks last quarter of 2008	Bail Out Bank	2,000
Tobin Tax 0.1 % per year	Tobin Tax	800
Bonuses to 'Bankers' over 10 years	Bankers Bonuses	200
Total cost to remove global annual non-energy production CO2 emissions	Artificial Trees	200